Intravenous infusion of fluids and intravenous removal of fluids has been and continues to be a common practice in the medical treatment and care of patients in hospitals and other medical facilities. A typical intravenous infusion system comprises a catheter penetrating the skin and an underlying vein of, most commonly, the patient's arm, a source of fluid, and tubing interconnecting the source of fluid and the infusion catheter. In order to minimize movement of the needle or catheter relative to the limb of the patient and to prevent inadvertant removal of the catheter, it is standard practice to secure the catheter and a portion of its associated tubing to the limb of the patient. With conventional methods of medical practice, a needle-bearing catheter is inserted through the skin of the patient into an underlying vein, the needle is removed and the catheter is secured to the skin of the patient with adhesive tape. In addition to securing the catheter, a portion of the associated tubing is looped or coiled and similarly secured to the patient's skin with several strips of adhesive tape for the purpose of absorbing anY tension imposed upon such tubing without displacing the catheter. While this conventional system has proven to be reasonably effective in securing the catheter and tubing, it has several disadvantages.
First, the process of initially securing the catheter and tubing with several strips of adhesive tape is a cumbersome and time consuming process for the medical personnel. Further, it is necessary, if the intravenous treatment is to be continued for any extended period of time, to periodically check the catheter and tubing and to inspect the catheter entry site, and to periodically change the tubing interconnecting the catheter to the source of infusion fluid. In each instance the tape securing the intravenous infusion components to the limb of the patient must be removed and replaced strip bY strip; a process which is both time consuming for the medical personnel and painful for the patient. Second, the use of flexible adhesive tape to secure the catheter to the limb of the patient does not fully protect either the catheter or the tubing from displacement or constriction as a result of movement of the patient or impingement of other objects against the catheter or tubing. Third, the flexible adhesive tape does not prevent flexing of the patient's limb in the area of the catheter entry site and thus is ineffective in maintaining the proper alignment of the catheter relative to its entry site or to the vein into which fluid is being infused.
Several attempts have been made in the prior art in an effort to overcome these and other disadvantages of the conventional approach. One approach has been to provide a device for attachment to the limb of the patient for the purpose of retaining a loop of tubing, exemplified by U.S. Des. Pat. No. 290,041 to Scott, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,528 to Loeser, U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,103 to McConnell, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,933 to Speaker. This approach, while helpful to a degree in securing the tubing, does not improve the protection or stabilization of the catheter and does not fully aleviate the use of adhesive tape to secure the catheter and tubing.
Another approach has been to additionallY provide some catheter support in addition to tubing retention, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,446 to Buttaravoli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,641 to Jacobs, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,975 to Perry. While reflecting some improvement over the previous system, this approach has still failed to shield the catheter from impingement by other objects or from tampering, and has failed to adequately address problems which may arise from flexing of the patient's limb at the catheter entry site.